Publishing: an author’s experience with traditional publishing

Mine was not the typical path for publication.

To begin with, I am not your typical writer. It’s not that I don’t write all day, but do recipes count? Most of my writing consists of chart notes (sometimes sloppy) and recipes (sometimes illegible).

I I have I started five books, however. Getting started is the easy part. Finishing is another story.

But I finally finished one. At least I thought I had. Turns out I really didn’t understand the rewrite. I thought my writing was pretty good, actually excellent. He was excited to find an agent and a publisher.

But that process was more difficult than he had imagined. I went to a writing conference and spoke with a dozen agents. Was it just me, who weren’t interested? Two years later, I still don’t know. Certainly my topic was unusual.

Well, by then I would let my manuscript sit for a while. When I reread it months later, I was horrified. Had I written that? Forced conversation, Germanic phrases, trivial comments?

And so the rewriting began. The book was reduced from 117,000 words to 110,000, and I was sure it was perfect. I gave up on traditional publications and printed several online. It was pretty good, I thought. My friends and family said it too. I was ready to go big.

Or so I thought. Suddenly a friend of mine who teaches college writing offered to edit my manuscript. That should be easy, I thought proudly. You will probably love it and get lost in history.

Again wrong. She asked me not to hate her. Some of his comments were really painful.

So again, I checked the book. We only made it 2/3 of the way before classes started and his time was up. However, I learned a lot from editing it, enough, perhaps, to continue on my own. Now it’s perfect, I thought. And up to 104,000 words, there is nothing left to cut. In his book on writing, Stephen King had said to cut 10%, and I had already gone further.

But I was busy with life and put the book back down. In fact, I wasn’t thinking about it much when an agent called me. I had visited your agency before. Would I be interested in having her act out my book? I guess so, I think I said, my mind elsewhere. It certainly wasn’t the enthusiastic response you probably expected. The point was, he had given up traditional publications. Too frustrating and slow to bother. And the holidays were approaching. And things work too slowly in the publishing world anyway.

This is where the story gets interesting.

It was February 2009. We had a new president, determined to reform healthcare. One day I heard him promise health reform in six months. Six months? I couldn’t believe what my ears were hearing. It couldn’t possibly be done that fast. Bet I know 100 ways to help patients save money today, I thought. I grabbed a pencil, sat at the kitchen table, and began to write. Half an hour later the list was made. I’d had my catharsis. I have almost finished the list. So I started thinking: these ideas could help a lot of people. Why not write a book?

So I did it. I knew from the beginning that I would self-publish. He planned to write the book and send it to the printer in four months. I almost did it. Within six months the book was published, he had hired a distributor, and sales were slowly increasing.

Once again, the holidays came and went. I was adjusting, selling a reasonable number of books, doing frequent radio interviews and occasional newspaper reports.

And that’s when an editor approached me. Turns out they were looking for a book on the subject, they had asked for mine and they liked it. Would I be interested in updating the book to republish it?

Again my answer was wrong. It may be so, I replied, doubting that the project would go ahead. But they were persistent and by then I had talked to the agent about my other book. She was a source of information on traditional publications. He told me how incredibly lucky he was.

As of today, the health book is six weeks away from publication. Not only had they offered me a contract, but they had also put the book on a rush schedule for quick release – nine months from initial contact to books in stores.

I’m not a published author yet, but it’s happening, and in a bigger way than I expected. I haven’t mentioned all the work this has involved: rewriting, editing, blogging, website development, advertising, etc. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours.

Oh, and my first book? My agent told me that it had to be less than 100,000 words to attract an editor’s interest. Aargh! I didn’t see where another 4,000 words could be cut. But after letting the manuscript sit for a few months (again!) I was able to see more clearly. After a few more months of editing, it’s at 99,634 and (almost) on its way to … somewhere.